Cheap Boarding Schools for International StudentsAnswered
Preference: Any cheap boarding schools for international students in any english speaking country
From: India
I'm a 9th grader and I feel like my learning is limited in this school board specifically. I for once want to learn more, experience time abroad, learn n' develop new skills and polish my english at the same time (it's my first language but i feel like i could improve it more). So can anyone pls link/write down the schools which are cheap as I don't want to burden my parents and not make them stop me from studying in a new country. If there are scholarships for the same you can also link it down below but please guys i need your help.
P.S. I just want to study a year off abroad and then when i come back I'll study in different school in my country.
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3 answers
Hi, I feel for you! But this resource is mostly for those who are seeking advice to gain admission to US Colleges and Universities, not Boarding Schools. But I will help you since I've been through this process before.
What I do know about boarding schools is that their admissions process is very similar to the college application process. There is not a lot of merit-based aid to attend boarding schools because at all the good ones the students are very intelligent. Therefore, the only type of aid is financial aid based on your family income and assets. Similar to the top Ivy League Colleges and Elites, the best boarding schools have generous financial aid if you qualify. Meaning you have to fill out various forms and statements fully disclosing your family's affairs, how much money they have in the bank, investments, businesses, how many houses you own, and even what kind of cars they drive.
If you want a heads up on what the process would be to apply to boarding schools in the US, then you can look at Gateway to Prep Schools which is their version of the Common App.
https://www.gatewaytoprepschools.com/
Similar to the requirement that US Colleges whereby you have to fill out the FAFSA and CSS Profile, Boarding Schools have something called the PFS (I think the Acronym stands for Parental Financial Statements). The company that officiates this is Solutions by SSS. See the link below.
https://www.solutionsbysss.com/parents/
If you feel that you want to attend a boarding school for the purposes of improving your course rigor, ECs, writing and critical thinking, and English speaking ability, there are 2 hurdles you must pass to getting a good financial aid package.
First, you have to get admitted. To do that you have to have excellent grades, recommendations (at least 3 to 5 recommendations from your English, Math, Counselor and Head of School or Principal and an adult recommender like a family friend or mentor), extracurriculars, write a bunch of essays, your parents have to write essays as well and you have to submit Test Scores and participate in an official school interview. Neither the ACT nor SAT tests are required however most good boarding schools require you to take what is called the SSAT which is an aptitude test for Secondary Schools. It is administered by EMA which is a company like CollegeBoard. I believe this past cycle most boarding schools were test-optional however, once you fill out your profile on the Gateway to Prep Schools, it will tell you if they are still test-optional or not.
https://www.ssat.org/testing/about-the-test
If you are truly low-income, then you can apply for a Fee Waiver which means you don't have to pay the $60 per school to apply.
If you get to feel you are a strong candidate and meet or exceed all their requirements, then I would get your parents involved with filing out all the financial aid information.
Which is the 2nd big hurdle.
It is very very time-consuming. I would say applying to 5 or 10 Boarding schools is as difficult and time-consuming as applying to 5 to 10 Universities. You must complete all the documentation concurrently with applying to the school. If you do not your application will not be considered.
Before I forget, I need to tell you that there are girls' schools, boys' schools, and coed schools. If you're not good at sports, and a boy, I would not apply to an all-boys prep school because they live and breathe sports 24 x 7. You would have to get good at sports very quickly or get bullied. For example, Avon Old Farms is an all-boys prep school in CT with serious testosterone vibes. Because Title IX, coed schools are heavy on both boys and girls sports. So if you apply to a Deerfield Academy or Hotchkiss or Taft, you better have some sports talent because playing sports is a requirement each term. So you might pick Crew (rowing) in the Fall, the swimming in the Winter, and Water Polo in the Spring semester. Some schools are stricter than others about participation. Also, many US schools have a dress code requirement.
Probably the most important thing to tell you is that there are only 3 cycles where you can get admitted into boarding school. 1.) after 8th grade you can apply as a "lower" and get admitted as a 9th grader. 2.) after 10th grade, you can apply as an "upper" and get admitted into 11th grade, and lastly after graduating HS, you can apply as a PG Post Graduate and get admitted as a 13th grader. Therefore in your case, you have about 6 months of time to prepare your applications for the January 15th, 2022 deadlines for most of these schools. If you thought you can apply this summer and start in the fall, that's not an option.
You will have to attend 10th grade in India and apply to boarding schools in about 6 months for the following Fall matriculation of August 2022. And then attend boarding school for your 11th and 12th years.
The Niche list is a pretty good list to start with.
https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-boarding-high-schools/
https://admissionsight.com/best-boarding-schools/
Good luck.
It is interesting to know whether you have succeeded in choosing and entering Boarding Schools.
Also thanks to the authors above for writing thorough answers, it was interesting to read new information for me.
It is also surprising that most schools require you to participate in sports activities and have dress code requirement. The latter surprises me the most! It's good that I didn't have the obligatory uniform at school and college, I wouldn't be able to stand it. I recommend you read https://samploon.com/free-essays/school-uniforms/ to understand more about the pros and cons of school uniforms. I learned something new but did not change my mind. I also want to say that this site contains a lot of information and tools that can be useful for students and anyone who needs to write texts.
I currently go to a prestigious boarding school in the US. Unfortunately boarding schools are extremely expensive and cost around the same as private universities in the States. All boarding schools offer financial aid, but some schools limit the amount of international students that can receive aid.
As @CameronBameron said, it is a long and hard process to apply to these schools, very similar to the college application process.
The majority of students who attend these prestigious boarding schools tend to stay all remaining years of their high school career.
Although these prestigious boarding schools (8 Schools association) are the biggest Ivy League, and other top school feeders, you still have to be a top performer at your school to have a “better chance” of getting accepted.
@CameronBameron also mentioned sports being a big part of boarding school life. Most schools require you to participate in athletics all three terms at school.
Technically you are allowed to apply any year of your high school career although most students tend to apply to enter in 9th grade (for 4 years of high school) or 10th grade (for 3).
I hope this helps and best of luck
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Thank you so much! It was of great help!